THE EFFECTS OF VIOLENT FILMS ON CHILDREN. (A CASE STUDY OF CHILDREN IN CALABAR SOUTH)
CHAPTER ONE
INTRODUCTION
1.1 Background to the study
Different movies produced by the film industry use formats such as video Cassette, video compact disc (VCD), and more recently the digital video disc (DVD), in producing their movies. These movies are also shown on some channels such as “Africa Magic”, Joy TV”, etc, on DSTV, “Cine Africa”, MYTV”, as well as other cable network services which people subscribe to and which are viewed by the audience through the televisions, which is also classified under the types of media, among others. Films are evidently seen as one of the agents of socialization. This means that films are capable of influencing the attitudes, characters, lifestyle, and cultures of children either negatively or positively. Therefore, it is important to know the kinds of movies being produced for children’s viewing, since as a result of technology, more and more people in the society have access to television.
According to (Daramola, 2005: 90), “the mass media are very powerful socialization agents. The mass media are mainly newspapers, magazines, radio, television and movies. They are impersonal sources and they reach large heterogeneous and widely dispersed audiences. Their exact role in socialization is controversial but as disseminators of news and entertainment, they are extremely influential. The mass media therefore, especially the television, have been linked by several studies of having great influence upon socialization of children, adolescents, and even adults. Consciously or unconsciously, people most especially children, learn different aggressive and violent acts as they constantly watch these movies and most times they end up exhibiting such acts within their neighborhood, in school and within other social gatherings. As they watch movies with violent themes, they are likely to exhibit various criminal acts like bullying, kicking, raping, and other delinquent behaviours (Oslow, 2003:73).
The themes of these movies are indeed broad and covering Nigerian, African, and universal issues such as, the evils of polygamy, extra marital affairs, elopement, different forms of rituals, cultism, betrayal, marriage, witchcraft, incest, clash of western and traditional cultures, landlords and tenants, widowhood, teenage pregnancy, drug trafficking, campus life, tribal conflicts, religious conflicts, organized crime, murder, etc. (Akpabio, 2003: 138-139). Some other movies have themes solely based on Christianity and the evils that go on in the churches and among pastors, such as those produced by Mount Zion Ministries, for the purpose of spreading the gospel. Some examples include, “Busy but guilty”, “Blood on the alter”, “One careless Night”, etc. Many other movies could be educative and portray some Nigerian cultures, while others could also be in form of documentaries, showing the history of some Nigerian cultures as well as how it has evolved overtime. An example of such documentary movies is “towards a metaphysics”, produced in 2010. But unfortunately, the most common themes evident in the majority of Nigerian movies includes violence, which covers cultism, murder, rape, aggressive fights etc. Romance, which covers sex, nudity and vulgarity or the use of strong language, etc. Another common theme is that of rituals and the use of traditional medicine.
.